Getting Their Signals Crossed
by Jmaka
Summary: This is the story for the Support Stacie Auction for Bigbagofweird. Set in Season 3.


Here is my Support Stacie auction story. My winner Bigbagofweird has convinced me to post after I sent it to her to have the distinction of reading it first. I wasn't going to post this story at all but she offered to beg to have it put up and I didn't want to make her do that after she was so generous. I hope you guys like it. (Fingers crossed.)

Some particulars:

Word Count: 10,803 words sans The Title, The End and the dozen or so do-flickies I use as scene separators. Obviously I didn't count the verbal run-on that I do before and after the actual story.

Time period is Season 3. The challenge is posted at the end and boy was it a toughie!!

I made it even tougher by picking a scenario I haven't seen done. (It may be out there, I just haven't encountered it.)

I was nice and posted it all in one shot.

* * *

Getting their Signal Crossed

Rory was sitting cross-legged on the couch, poring over a book with the television on when a strange sound brought her out of her reverie. She grabbed the remote and shut off the TV, trying to identify the sound. She got up and headed for the door as she realized the sound was coming from outside.

She opened the door and was immediately rooted to the spot, seeing her mother and her date, Alex, making out. They separated.

"Oh…sorry," Rory said uncomfortably.

"It's okay," Lorelai said, startled.

"It's okay," Alex parroted.

"I can just shut the door so you can carry on," Rory offered, flustered.

"No," Alex said, slightly embarrassed, "We've carried on enough."

"Yeah, I think we've carried on pretty good out here," Lorelai said, trying to smooth over the awkward moment. She looked to Alex. "I'll call you about the weekend."

"Okay."

"Okay, bye-bye," With a quick parting kiss, Lorelai smiled at him and he was headed of the porch.

"Bye Rory."

"Good night."

Rory stepped back, still embarrassed as Lorelai came into the house with a guilty look on her face.

"We need a signal," Rory insisted avoiding looking at her mother.

"A kissing signal?" Lorelai queried, both amused and mortified by being busted by her teenage daughter.

"Something to avoid this?" Rory said pointedly.

"Okay, how about if I shoot off a flare if I'm outside necking with a boy?" she suggested outrageously.

"You know what I mean," Rory told her.

"Or, I could bang on the door and yell 'Hey we're necking out here'," she continued on in the same frivolous vein.

"I still say we need a signal."

"We'll think of something. Hey listen," she said as she set her coat down on the back of the couch. "Alex and I were thinking about going to New York next weekend."

"Fun."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed as they sat down on the couch for some girl talk. "He's got four tickets to a show and he's heard me talk about Sookie and Jackson so much that he wants to invite them too. We'd have to leave Friday day though."

"So?"

"That means you'll be going to Friday night dinner alone."

"And then I'll have the house to myself," Rory realized. "Ooh I can order Indian food!"

"Yuck," Lorelai made a face. "I'll make sure to leave the number so you can get the house fumigated before I get back on Sunday."

Rory grinned at her mother. "You gotta deal."

* * *

"Hey." Lorelai said as she walked into the diner and towards the counter.

"Hey," Luke was standing near a table, having just poured a refill. "Coffee?" he asked as walked back behind the counter with the coffee pot.

"Please and hurry," Lorelai said setting her purse down on a stool. "I'm going to Manhattan this weekend and I need to shop for some warm clothes."

"You already have warm clothes," Luke pointed out.

Lorelai made a scoffing sound. "I have nothing."

"We're in Connecticut. It gets freezing here same as in New York." Luke cleared away some dirty dishes.

"It's not the same."

"It's exactly the same."

Lorelai made another exasperated sound. "I have nothing stylish enough."

"That's not true. You've got the black cashmere coat."

"But it needs cleaning," she said petulantly.

"So clean it," Luke stated as if everything was solved. He set a to-go cup on the counter.

"But I need some sweaters too," Lorelai insisted.

"You've got the purple, you've got the powder blue," Luke said, ticking her sweater choices off on his fingers, "you've got three shades of red, you've got a ton of black, all of which will go with that coat, plus you've got a dozen scarves to mix and match with any of those tops."

Lorelai stood there, her bubble burst by the fact that he was being such a kill-joy. "Let me shop for some clothes."

"Okay. So what are you doing in New York?" Luke asked as he poured her coffee.

"Um, a bunch of us are going," she said somewhat evasively as she sat on a stool not wanting to tell her she was going with Alex. She felt kind of funny talking to Luke about him especially after the fishing lesson. "It'll be dinner and a show."

"Ah. What show?"

"'Levitttown'. It's a new musical?"

"Right. Yeah. Seen previews," Luke said putting the lid on her cup. "Doesn't officially open for a couple of weeks."

"Wow," Lorelai said both surprised and impressed, "so informed."

"Nicole likes the theater," Luke explained. "Her firm has an office on Madison. I've met her there a couple of times. Saw 'Hairspray' last week."

"I cannot picture you watching 'Hairspray'," Lorelai admitted with a smile, as they slipped into their usual easy banter.

"It was okay. I liked 'The Producers' better," he said matter-of-factly.

"Well aren't we just a Broadway baby," she teased.

"Gonna have any time to kill there?"

"Some."

"Got a great book, it has walking tours of old historic Manhattan, you know, before Disney got a hold of it. The Soho one's pretty good."

"I love stuff like that."

"It's upstairs on my dresser if you want to run up and grab it," he offered.

"Cool. Thanks." Lorelai got up and headed upstairs.

As she opened the door, she looked around and suddenly froze her hands going to her chest. "Oh! Oh!"

Her heart kicked into overdrive as she saw Rory reclining on the couch with Jess half-lying on top of her, kissing her. Open-mouth kissing her. They immediately separated and sat up.

"Mom," Rory said in embarrassment.

"Surprise," Lorelai said lamely.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I came up for a book."

"A book?" Jess finally found his voice.

"Yeah."

"Got a lot of books here," Jess pointed out. "Anything in particular?"

"It's one of Luke's," Lorelai said her eyes vainly searching for the book in question, eager to get out of there.

"Well if it doesn't have encyclopedia brand on the title that narrows it down a lot," Jess said mockingly.

"Walking tours... New York," Lorelai managed to blurt out part of the title.

"On the table." Jess reached around Rory and grabbed the book, equally eager to get rid of her.

"Good. Here it is," Lorelai came forward to take the book from Jess' outstretched hand. "Okay… so… thanks. Sorry about this." Lorelai turned to the door.

"It's okay," Rory said a little too loudly.

Lorelai chuckled lamely, trying to act cool about the situation. She turned back to them. "We should probably come up with a system or something."

"Probably," Rory agreed shortly.

"Déjà vu, huh?"

"Déjà vu," Rory repeated.

"Although why I'd be walking into Luke's apartment like this in the future, I don't know so put the system on the back burner." She was babbling now and she knew it.

"Okay," Jess said curtly, hoping she would leave.

"Okay," Lorelai said backing to the door. "Carry on." She realized how idiotic that just sounded. "Er, see ya!"

She closed the door behind her and broke a land-speed record getting back downstairs. Luke was scratching at something stuck on a table, trying to remove it.

"Dude," she said as she walked through the curtain.

Luke abandoned the table and turned around. "Hey, did you find it okay?"

"Yeah I found everything. Including a couple coupling," she told him.

"Oh," he turned and headed back to the counter. "Rory and Jess?"

"No," Lorelai popped off as she followed him, "Ben and JLo. Yes, Rory and Jess."

"Guess I should have told you," Luke confessed.

"You knew they were up there?" she asked stunned.

"They're up there all the time," Luke replied.

"Ah, um," Lorelai stammered. "On the couch. Horizontal on the couch."

"They come up for air every so often," Luke said in his defense.

"And you just allow this?" Lorelai asked in disbelief. "Luke—"

"Settle down," he cut her off. "I go up there every ten minutes pretending to get something to keep them from doing something we don't want. Oops I forgot my pocket knife…oops I'm outta ones. Hey, do you see a case of mustard up here?" He reached beneath the counter and pulled out a box of miscellaneous items. "I put the stuff in a box. I take the box upstairs every couple days and start all over again."

Lorelai looked at him unconvinced. "And you think that suffices?"

"Look," Luke said, "its better that they're safe and upstairs then some place else," he put the box back under the counter. "And you going up there just saved me a trip, so thanks."

"Glad to be of service," her tone clearly indicated that she was not at all enthusiastic about his plan. She pulled some money out of her wallet for the coffee.

"I've got a good system. It works," he reassured her.

"Every ten minutes?" Lorelai queried.

"Like clockwork," he replied. "Never a minute more."

"Even if you're serving a customer? It's every ten minutes?"

"If I'm in mid-pour, I stop and go up."

"Ten minutes," Lorelai mused thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's pretty much the time it took to create Rory." She added, "And that included getting dressed and freshening my lipstick." With that parting shot she headed for the door.

"What?" Luke gaped at her retreating form.

"Thanks for the book!" she said flippantly and left.

Luke turned to the kitchen. "Cesar, cover for me!" He turned and made a beeline for the stairs.

He stormed up the stairs and burst into the apartment to behold Rory and Jess sitting on opposite sides of the couch. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or worried about that.

"Rory, I need to talk to Jess, if you could excuse us."

Rory stood up and gathered her things. "It's time for me to be going anyway," she said, sure that her mother had told him what she walked in on. With a sympathetic look and a quick smile, she headed out the door.

"We need to go over those ground rules," Luke declared after Rory left.

"Not again," Jess groaned.

"Sit!" Luke commanded.

"Once again, when she is up here, that door stays open."

Jess rolled his eyes.

Luke held his arms out indicating the areas where the beds were located. "You are not allowed on either end of this apartment." He indicated the center of the room. "You are to remain in the middle portion of this room."

Jess shot Luke a disbelieving look.

"You are allowed to sit on the couch or the chair as long as you two are on separate seats."

"Look, we were just kissing," Jess argued. "Just because Lorelai ripped you a new one doesn't mean you have to take it out on me."

"Lorelai did NOT rip me a new one," Luke stated loudly. "She is concerned for her daughter." He pointed to himself. "I'm concerned for her daughter."

"And I am not going to push her into something she is not ready for," Jess declared. He made eye contact with Luke, his eyes willing his uncle to believe him. "Trust me," he urged. "We won't do anything above PG-13, I promise. Okay?"

Luke eyed him skeptically. "PG-13 is still cause for concern."

"Look, I promise you on whatever you want," Jess swore to him. "Rory has big plans for her life. I want to see her succeed just as much as you and Lorelai do."

Luke heaved a sigh, pondering Jess' words and his sincerity. He held up a finger. "Don't you make me regret this."

"You won't," Jess assured him.

* * *

Lorelai quickly rifled through sweater after sweater on the clothes rack. She wasn't finding anything she liked. She kept mentally reviewing what happened at the diner. She was still upset over Luke's casual attitude over the Rory and Jess situation. She had worked hard to provide the best for her daughter. She'd given Rory every opportunity she could, along with the love, freedom and guidance to do whatever she wanted. She wanted Rory to have it all, not throw it away on a fleeting moment of passion with the resident bad boy like she had.

Glancing over the racks one last time, she decided she would have to make do with what she already had. She wasn't in the mood to shop now. She had to admit Luke was right; she had enough nice things for the weekend at least. She had taken his advice and dropped her coat off at the cleaners. As she left the mall, she reasoned that maybe she could do some shopping in New York.

With any thought of shopping banished, her mind turned once again to Luke. She had to talk to him and make sure they were on the same page when it came to Rory and Jess. Jess was Rory's boyfriend but there still needed to be boundaries.

It was starting to get dark out as Lorelai reached Stars Hollow. She parked the Jeep outside the diner and headed in.

"Hey Cesar," Lorelai said as she walked in. "Where's Luke?"

Cesar moved his head in the direction of the curtain. "He's upstairs."

"Thanks." Without saying another word she ducked behind the curtain. She mounted the steps and within a minute she was knocking on the door.

Luke opened the door, surprised to see her. "Hey."

Lorelai walked past him and looked around. "Is Jess here?"

"No, he's downstairs straightening up the stockroom."

"Good. I think we need further discussion about what went on here this afternoon," she stated.

"Lorelai," he said placatingly, "I've already handled it."

"I can see how you're handling it," she said, keeping her voice neutral.

"Look, I came up here after you left. I think you freaked them both out. Rory left and I had a talk with Jess. It's all good."

"Luke, they were on the couch," Lorelai said plaintively.

"Lorelai, he knows the score here. He knows Rory has big plans. He knows that he has to toe the line or he's out. He's not going to jeopardize that or force Rory to do anything."

Lorelai dropped tiredly onto the couch and put her head in her hands. She knew Luke wanted the best for Rory too, but she had lived out this scenario herself. The situation was too dangerous.

"I'm not getting through to you," she insisted in a soft tone.

"You're coming through loud and clear," Luke said taking a seat next to her.

"Do you know Jess? He's a teenage boy," Lorelai stated. "And he was reclining on a couch with a girl…"

"You're over-reacting," Luke said.

"Am I?" Lorelai challenged him. "A pretty good rule of thumb for guys: Anytime they end up on a couch with a girl, signals he is going to get some."

"I'm sitting on the couch with you and I'm not thinking that," Luke pointed out.

"That's because you don't remember what it's like to have raging hormones." She shook her head. "Then again your hormones probably never raged at that age," she said almost derisively.

"Oh, they raged just fine both then and now," Luke shot back before he could stop himself. He was nettled. Now was not the time to rehash his teenage exploits or to discuss his adult relationships with women, particularly not with this woman who regularly starred in his more hormonally-fueled thoughts and dreams.

Lorelai turned to face him on the couch, belatedly aware that she insulted him. "I'm sorry," she said contritely, laying a hand on his arm. "I'm all over the place," she waved her other hand in the air in a circle. "I'm just a **big bag of weird**. I didn't mean that."

He half-turned to face her. "I understand," he nodded. "You know I always have your's and Rory's best interests at heart."

Lorelai did know that. Even after the accident, he'd marched Jess to the bus station, in a sense choosing them over Jess.

"I know," Lorelai agreed softly. "You always look after us." She wasn't aware that she'd been rubbing his arm.

"And I always will," Luke replied in an equally low tone. He brought his hand up to cover hers.

Both of them froze, their eyes dropping to where their hands were touching. Lorelai looked back up, unsure of what to say. Their eyes locked and they stared, absorbed in one another.

Luke found himself drawn into her warm blue eyes and they held him spellbound. He was vaguely aware that they were having one of their "moments". Most of the time they'd either been interrupted or one of them always pulled back. He was suddenly keenly aware that neither was going to happen this time.

Lorelai found herself suddenly short of breath. The intensity of his gaze was drawing her in as they both leaned in closer. There was one second that he paused and Lorelai thought maybe she was wrong, that he wasn't going to kiss her, then he closed the distance and their lips met.

He kissed her gently, tentatively, almost fearfully as if he expected her to slap him. Lorelai was too busy noticing the soft texture of this lips and the way her own mouth clung to his to think about anything else. She pressed closer, wanting more.

When he realized she was responding to him, he deepened the kiss. Lorelai could feel her heart racing as well as Luke's. A jolt of desire surged through them, catapulting them into previously uncharted territory where the concept of friendship was overridden by how much they wanted each other.

Luke drew back stunned at what he had done. After so many years of near-misses during the countless moments they'd had, the fact that they had finally broken through that wall almost had a sense of an alternate reality, yet it held such promise. He knew he wanted more.

He stared down into Lorelai's face and noticed a delicate blush staining her cheeks. Her eyes remained closed. She let out a little gasp of air and licked her lips and that was all the encouragement Luke needed.

As Luke kissed her a second time, Lorelai wasn't aware that she was sliding her arms around his neck. His mouth played on hers, teasing her, coaxing her, making her kiss him harder. She was enjoying this kiss even more than the first.

Gradually they eased down on the couch, spurred on by sheer hunger for each other. Their breathing grew labored but neither attempted to break the kiss. Lorelai felt Luke's hands roaming over her body and the jolts of pleasure grew more intense.

"Whoa!"

That one word, spoken by a new voice had the effect of glass shattering. They came down to earth with a thud and snatched away from each other, separating guiltily. Luke jumped to his feet and met Jess' knowing smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked. He spared a glance for Lorelai who was slow getting up from the couch.

Lorelai was in a daze and had stood up before she realized a few of her bottom buttons were undone. She wasn't showing anything too revealing as of yet but if Jess had been a few minutes later…. How had Luke gotten her blouse unbuttoned so easily? When he kissed her, any thoughts and troubles melted away allowing her to focus solely on him. Now they were back, and everything was flooding back full force as she was on the receiving end of Jess' mocking comments.

She was having problems getting her shaking fingers to work as they fumbled with her blouse. Luke deliberately stepped in front of her blocking Jess' view of her. She gratefully hid behind Luke letting him shield her while she repaired her appearance.

"What am I doing here?" Jess repeated. "I live here. Oh wait," he said affecting a pose like he was thinking. "I think I need some ones for downstairs. Or where is that case of mustard that's making a desperate bid for freedom by hiding out up here?" He pretended to look around before giving Luke knowing look.

Luke colored slightly, uncomfortable that Jess had been all too aware of his ploy. "Stop it," he growled at him.

"I think we should go over those ground rules one more time," Jess said nodding his head. "If I remember correctly, you are allowed to sit on the couch or the chair as long as the two of you are on separate seats."

"Jess," Luke said warningly.

Lorelai had heard enough. She grabbed her purse. "I need to go," she ducked her head, avoiding both Luke's and Jess' gaze and made a beeline for the door. She almost ran out the door, leaving Luke to deal with him.

Lorelai's feet flew on the sidewalk heading for home. The cold air fanned her heated cheeks and she roiled in her embarrassment, humiliated by a seventeen-year-old punk. Halfway home she remembered she'd left the Jeep in front of the diner. She decided to leave it there rather than have another encounter with either Luke or Jess.

Lorelai made her way up the steps and paused at the doorway of the Crap Shack trying to collect herself. Rory was home. As much as she'd like to avoid telling Rory what happened, she knew she had to. She didn't want Rory hearing this from Jess. She blew out a deep breath and opened the door.

Rory was sitting on the couch with an open textbook in her lap. "Hi, you're home," Rory smiled at her over her shoulder. "Alex called. I ordered pizza for dinner."

"Um, yeah, okay," Lorelai said lamely.

Rory looked at her a little more closely. "Is everything okay?"

"Um," she wavered turning back and forth to the coat rack, undecided if she wanted to hang up her coat. She finally took it off and hung it up before going to sit next to Rory.

"I need to talk you," Lorelai began.

"Mom, if it's about this afternoon," Rory launched into her defense, "it wouldn't have gone any further I promise."

"No, it's not about that," Lorelai assured her. She was past this afternoon's episode, no longer as frantic about what might happen. She already had Luke's assurance and she believed him. That guarantee along with Rory's confirmation that they would be careful and her confidence had been restored.

"Is it about Jess?"

"In a way," Lorelai hedged. "Look, you need to hear this from me before Jess tells you." Lorelai took a deep breath. "Remember that signal we were talking about? We probably should set something up." She hesitated, "Jess walked in on me and Luke kissing."

"What!?" Rory's eyes were huge.

"It just sort of happened," Lorelai attempted to explain. "We were arguing about today and then suddenly we were kissing and Jess," she paused, mortification washing over her again, "walked in on us."

Rory sat staring at her mother, flabbergasted. Her brain spun. She couldn't believe it. After years of flirting, years of friendship they had finally crossed that line.

"You kissed Luke?" Rory repeated stupefied.

"Well he did the initial kissing," Lorelai said, "but it was so amazing and I joined in…pretty much immediately."

Rory's eyes widened again, trying to wrap her mind around the idea of her mother and Luke, possibly even dating. A random thought popped up in Rory's brain. "What about Alex?"

Lorelai put a hand to her forehead. Oh lord, she hadn't even thought about Alex. She let out an ironic burst of laughter. Usually she had a hard enough time getting one man in her life and now she had two. She mentally corrected herself. Luke had always been in her life no matter what her dating status was. But now it was different. Luke had rocked her world so she hadn't even remembered her fledgling relationship with Alex. Right now she was all she could think about was Luke.

She finally met Rory's questioning gaze. "I don't know," she answered honestly.

* * *

"You've been a bit preoccupied tonight," Alex commented.

"Hmmm?" Lorelai focused her eyes on Alex, sitting across the table from her. Preoccupied? Yeah, she agreed silently, that would accurately describe her. She'd spent most of the previous night tossing and turning, her mind spinning out in different scenarios, trying to figure out what she should do. She finally fell into an exhausted sleep only to wake up late the next morning, too late to go to Luke's or at the very least, retrieve the Jeep.

"Lorelai," Alex said again, bringing her back to the present.

Lorelai stared into his eyes, trying to collect herself. Part of her had wanted to call off this date but she couldn't bring herself to be that mean and cancel at the last minute. She continued to stare at him wordlessly and watched the confusion play across his features at her strange behavior.

Suddenly everything came sharply into focus. This was not the man she wanted to be with. She wanted to be with someone she could really be herself with, someone who understood and embraced her flakiness, not someone who she had to make up false truths about herself in a vain attempt to be compatible. She had learned how to fish, for god's sake, trying to impress him, trying to be something she was not, someone she wasn't comfortable being.

Luke popped into her mind again and she found herself thinking about all the times he had been there for her. He was her rock, a safe haven for her. There wasn't an aspect of her life where he hadn't unselfishly pitched in to lend a hand whenever she asked. He got her on every level and let her be herself. He didn't play any games with her or try to be something he wasn't. Hell, he had willingly taught her the afore-mentioned fishing skills just so she could pretend she was something she wasn't to another man.

She wondered what it would be like to have him sitting across from her. She thought she knew but then she thought about the different facets she had glimpsed while he was dating Nicole and realized there was probably more—a lot more—that she'd learn about him if she had a chance. She decided she wanted that chance.

"Alex," she said gently, knowing there would be no easy way to do this, but opting for the truth nevertheless. "Have I ever told you about my friend Luke?"

* * *

When they pulled into the driveway of the Crap Shack, Alex parked the car and turned off the ignition. Lorelai stared out the window at the front porch. Rory had left the light on.

"So I guess this is it," Alex ventured.

Lorelai turned to face him and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry."

"You think you might change your mind?" he questioned hesitantly. "I like you Lorelai. I like you a lot."

She patted his arm sympathetically. "I know. I like you too but I need to do this."

"If it doesn't work out…:

"Thank you," Lorelai said sincerely, cutting him off, "but I don't want to string you along. No matter what, Luke will come first in my life regardless of what our relationship is or becomes."

Alex nodded. She opened her door and stepped out of the car. "Good-bye Alex."

"Good-bye Lorelai."

Lorelai closed the car door and stood back in the driveway watching Alex drive out of her life. Part of her felt bad; he really was a nice guy and didn't deserve to be dumped. She took a deep breath, willing the aspects of her latest failed relationship away. She was restless and full of energy. She didn't want to go into the house just yet. Having made a major decision about her life tonight and setting herself on a new path made her want to go even further. She wanted to see Luke.

She walked quickly through the darkened streets towards town trying to figure out what to say to him. She was approaching Doose's when she saw Luke's truck pull up to the curb. Lorelai shrank back into the shadows, grateful she had worn dark clothing, watching. As he shut off the engine, she saw that he was not alone in the truck. Nicole was with him.

Luke was dressed nicely. Date, nicely. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him dressed up before. She teased him about his Brawny Man wardrobe even though she secretly liked his casual, comfortable attire. But when he dressed up…he could rival any one of those GQ pretty boys. She knew it would've embarrassed him to hear her say that before, but now, she intended to tell him she like this look on him too.

He walked around the truck to the passenger side of the cab and opened the door, extending a hand to Nicole and helping her out. From her vantage point, she saw her give him a faint smile then they both turned to walk over to her car. Apparently Nicole had come to him and they had gone out.

She watched from a distance as he escorted her to her car. She wished she could see Luke's face but he had his back to her. Nicole fished out her keys and opened the door. She turned back to face him and to Lorelai's horror, slipped her hand to his neck and drew him down for a goodnight kiss.

Lorelai had the same gut-wrenching feeling she'd had when Rachel had returned to Star Hollow and finally she understood. These new-found feelings for Luke were not new at all. She'd had them all along and had deliberately buried them deep inside her.

Luke had drawn back and let Nicole get into the car, shutting her door before stepping back, much like she had down with Alex. As she pulled away he gave her a brief wave before turning and heading back into the diner.

Lorelai stayed hidden for a long time, too stunned by what she had seen to go on to the diner and speak to him. In all of her careful consideration about starting a relationship with Luke, she had overlooked on very large hurdle in the shape of Nicole. She may want to be with him but clearly he did not. After witnessing the two of them together, the only thing she could do was forget about those fleetingly passionate moments spent kissing him.

Finally she pushed herself away from the building that had been supporting her and wobbled over to the Jeep. She got in, started the Jeep and headed for home, saddened.

* * *

Luke walked towards a table and absentmindedly set down a couple of breakfast specials. He glanced outside to the empty parking spot that nagged at him since he came down and opened the diner that morning.

Yesterday, he'd waited patiently for Lorelai to appear in the diner like she did practically every morning. He noticed the Jeep parked outside and concluded that she must have left it behind the night before. When Rory turned up for her morning coffee and carefully mentioned that Lorelai was running late, he hoped that she might stop in at lunch and he could pull her aside to talk.

Luke desperately wanted some sort of signal from her about how she felt. His feelings were clear. He had watched, waited and wanted for years for something to spark between them and now it finally had. He had no reluctance, no hesitation about the direction of the next phase of their relationship: he wanted them to be together.

He could tell by the way Rory was acting that Lorelai had told her what had happened. She had been awkward around him, not saying much and sticking pretty close to Jess. He'd been a little embarrassed himself and wondered about the conversation the two of them had when she came home last night.

When Rory finally had to leave for school, he gave her a big cup of coffee to-go and a couple of donuts. She bobbed her head shyly at him and smiled. At least he had taken care of one Gilmore that morning. He hoped he would have the chance with the other one.

The entire day had passed, as he waited for her to come into the diner. He found himself glancing at the Jeep from time to time, hoping that even if she didn't come to the diner, she would come for the Jeep and he could catch her then. He tried not to see it as a negative sign when the lunch rush came and went, then the afternoon and the dinner hour. He reasoned that she'd had busy days before where she didn't have time to stop in. He was sure she would put in an appearance eventually.

It came as a shock when Nicole called him to confirm when she would be by for their date that night. Too dumbfounded by the fact that after kissing Lorelai, he had completely forgotten he was in a relationship, he mumbled some sort of confirmation, trapped into filling a commitment with a woman he no longer wanted.

"Order up!" Cesar yelled bringing Luke back to the present. He picked it up and headed to the table by the window, his eyes again drawn to the empty parking space. He was sure the Jeep was still parked there when he got home last night. When did she get it? Did this mean she wasn't coming in again today?

Unfortunately Luke didn't have any answers.

* * *

"Mom, are you up?" Rory called as she tapped on her mother's door.

"I'm almost ready," Lorelai called.

Rory opened the door and observed her mother putting the finishing touches on her makeup. "Are you alright?" Rory asked, studying her. Her carefully made-up face was cleverly disguising a sleepless night, Rory was sure. She might fool everyone else but Rory knew her too well. She seemed a little off.

"I'm fine," Lorelai assured her.

"I was asleep when you got in last night," Rory ventured. "How was your date with Alex?"

Lorelai smiled thinly as she applied her mascara. "Not so good." Her hand faltered and her eyes dropped momentarily before raising up to meet Rory's gaze in the mirror. "I broke up with him."

Rory struggled to keep her face neutral, watching her mother closely trying to gauge her reaction. She did like Alex, but Luke, Luke, she loved unconditionally. If the two of them could finally get together….

"I'm sorry," Rory told her honestly. "But this is a good thing right?" Rory questioned letting hope creep into her voice. "You're going to date Luke right?"

Lorelai regretfully shook her head. She tugged Rory's arm guiding her down on the seat next to her. "I know how you feel about Luke," she said picking her words carefully, "but he's still with Nicole."

"You don't know that," Rory insisted.

"Yes, I do." Lorelai's eyes dropped again. "I saw them together last night, kissing."

"Oh Mom…" Rory began sympathetically.

"It's okay," Lorelai told her. She smiled brightly at Rory, even though her eyes were sad. "I guess I misread the signals. It looks like Luke and I are destined to be just friends." She let out a deep breath. "I can live with that." I'll have too, she thought.

"Maybe they'll break up…"

"Are you listening to yourself?" Lorelai asked incredulously.

Rory stuttered to a stop and looked at Lorelai, ashamed at herself for wishing something so bad.

"It's okay," Lorelai soothed her. "I know you want the best for me." She shook herself out of the funk that was threatening to overwhelm her. "Let's not talk about this anymore okay? I'd prefer you not talk about it to Jess either." Rory nodded. "C'mon," she nudged Rory. "Time's awastin'. We need to get a move on if we want to get coffee from Luke's."

"You still want to go to Luke's?" Rory asked stunned.

Lorelai stroked her daughter's hair. "If friendship is all that we'll have, I'll take it."

Rory hated the fact that she was settling. She nodded but she found she had already built up a little anger towards Luke. He'd had a thing for her mother for years. From what Jess had told her, he didn't think it was all that serious between Nicole and Luke. He should want to be with her.

Lorelai got up. "Let's go."

* * *

Luke was just about to slide the basket into the coffee machine when his grip fumbled and the counter was liberally dusted with coffee grounds.

"Sheesh," Jess groused passing by with an order, "what's up with you?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he realized what the problem was: Lorelai. Luke had all but ordered him not to bring up what happened in any way shape or form and Jess was willing to cut him a little slack on it, seeing as how he was cutting him some slack about him and Rory.

Luke gritted his teeth as he reached for the rag. What was up with him? He knew what was up. What the hell happened to the Jeep? He wanted to yell that at Jess but he knew he wouldn't have made any sense.

"I got it," Luke snapped as Jess made a half-hearted move to help clean it up.

"Fine," Jess held up his hands and backed away.

Luke had almost finished cleaning off the counter when the bell jangled. Irritated, he glanced over not expecting to see the person he had been waiting on for the past day and a half to walk in, but lo and behold, Lorelai walked in, trailed by Rory and they sat at their usual table.

Lorelai knew Luke was behind the counter having seen him through the window. She and Rory sat down.

"Has he noticed that we're here?" Lorelai asked, not daring to look towards the counter.

Rory saw Luke finish cleaning up and begin to round the counter. "Oh yeah," was all the warning she could give her.

"Hey," Luke said quickly coming up to the table, all attempts to try to act nonchalant failing miserably. He was suddenly tongue-tied, keenly aware of Rory's presence. He didn't want to discuss this in front of Rory. "Uh…coffee?"

Rory nodded.

"That would be great," Lorelai said barely glancing in his direction.

Luke stared down at her bent head for a moment before remembering the coffee. He headed back to the counter to get the pot and cups.

"Hey," Jess said walking up to the table.

"Hi," Rory greeted him warmly. "Putting in an extra shift before school?"

"No rest for the wicked," Jess smirked. "Uh, can I talk to you over here for a minute?"

Lorelai's insides clenched at the thought of being alone at the table when Luke came back. She shot Rory a pleading look. Rory dutifully nodded indicating she would stay put.

Jess looked from one to the other, noticing the non-verbal exchange. "I'm not going to drag her upstairs," he said, thinking Lorelai didn't trust him. "I just wanna talk to her."

Luke returned with the cups and the pot and poured out the coffee. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No," Jess replied sulkily. "I just want to spend a little time alone with my girlfriend."

Luke knew he would never have a better opportunity. He set the cups down and poured the coffee. "Sure, go ahead."

Lorelai shot one last desperate glance at Rory before Jess tugged her hand and drew her away. She was left alone with Luke.

"Ah," Luke began nervously but plunged right in, "I was hoping to talk to you about the other night."

Lorelai cast her eyes around the diner, searching for any nosey townsfolk. As luck would have it, none of the regulars were there so she couldn't use that excuse. She had noticed his odd behavior and knew what it signaled. She didn't want to hear Luke tell her he was still with Nicole. If he did that, her carefully-erected façade would crumble and she would make a fool of herself.

"Don't worry about it," Lorelai said off-handedly.

"What?" Luke asked, confused.

Lorelai swallowed painfully. "You have Nicole. I'm going to New York this weekend," she left out the part that Alex wouldn't be going with her. She gave him a wan smile. "We should just forget it ever happened." She busied herself with taking a long sip of coffee, keeping her eyes averted so he wouldn't see her misery.

Luke literally gaped at her but she wasn't looking at him. She was more concerned with drinking her morning coffee than consider him as anything more than her local coffee provider and fix-it man. He felt his hopes shrivel up and crumble inside him. She didn't want him. He wouldn't force his attentions on her when they were so clearly not wanted.

"Okay, then," he said gruffly wanting nothing more than to get far away from her. "Glad we got that cleared up."

He grabbed the coffeepot and left her alone.

* * *

After going through her normal morning routine when she arrived at the Inn, Lorelai finally was able to break free to go talk to Sookie. She entered the kitchen just in time to see Jackson heading out the door. Sookie turned around and noticed Lorelai making her way to the coffee pot.

"There you are!" Sookie gushed. "Just think tomorrow afternoon we'll be on the road to New York! This is so exciting! Jackson and I never get to do stuff like this!"

Lorelai's heart sank. She hated to disappoint her but she had no choice. She poured herself a cup of coffee, trying to screw up her courage to tell Sookie the trip was off.

"Well," Lorelai began reluctantly, "that answers my question about how upset you'll be if we had to cancel."

"Cancel? Oh noooo!" Sookie whined. "You can't be serious! Jackson and I have been so looking forward to spending the weekend with you and Alex! We confirmed the reservations! What happened?"

Lorelai hesitated not wanting to have to tell her everything. "Alex and I broke it off."

"Noooo!" Sookie moaned again. She eyed Lorelai suspiciously. "Who did the breaking?"

Lorelai took a long sip of coffee.

Sookie shook her head. "I don't understand why you always do this," she said sadly. "Sometimes I think you deliberately do this so you won't be happy," she hypothesized then gave her a speculative look. "Any chance you can make up just for the weekend?"

"It wouldn't be fair to him Sook," Lorelai told her.

"Fair? What do you mean fair? Why did you break it off?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai knew she'd revealed more than she should have and attempted to gloss over her situation without telling her the real truth.

"I realized my feelings for him weren't what they should be," Lorelai said, hoping she would not question her further. "But you know," she pointed out, "there is no reason why you and Jackson can't still go. You should. Go have a romantic weekend just the two of you."

"We could," Sookie moped, "but I was looking forward to the four of us spending time together. We never get to do the double date thing." Her eyes grew wide and she gestured wildly with her hands. "Oh! Why can't we still go just the three of us?"

"Sookie," Lorelai said logically, "you and Jackson don't need me tagging along. I don't want to be a third wheel."

"You won't be. How many times have I tagged along on your dates?" Sookie countered.

"Um, none?" Lorelai answered.

"Huh," Sookie thought about it. "Must be that I hear so much about them, I think I was there." She gave Lorelai a puppy-dog look. "Please think about it?" Sookie pleaded. "Even if we don't take in a show, there are a lot of things we could do."

"Well I could do some shopping I suppose," Lorelai allowed.

"Great!" Sookie jumped on that. "Then it's all settled!"

"Alright," Lorelai agreed. Then it struck her that maybe it would be a good idea to get out of Stars Hollow after the week she'd just had. "I'll double-check to make sure we still have our reservations."

"Yah!!" Sookie cheered.

Lorelai wished she felt as cheerful. It was going to be a long weekend.

* * *

Jess came out of the bathroom and picked up the shirt he had laid across his bed. Shrugging it on, he buttoned it, moving towards the kitchen. He saw Luke sitting on the couch, lost in thought.

"What's up with you?" Jess asked. Something about his uncle seemed off.

"Nothing," Luke lied.

"C'mon," Jess prodded. "You've been moping around for the past couple of days." Normally Jess didn't spare any thoughts for Luke. He was pretty self-sufficient but after the roller coaster events of the week and Luke's current funk, he was compelled to offer whatever support he could. "Woman trouble, Uncle Luke?" he joked.

Luke glared at him for the "uncle" and heaved himself up from the couch. "My personal life is none of your concern," he warned him.

"Seems to me it is, if I'm gonna be walking in on you and my girlfriend's mother," jess said pointedly.

"That's not gonna happen," Luke said savagely, remembering his painful conversation with Lorelai earlier in the day.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jess demanded. "Don't tell me this is about Nicole."

"No, I broke it off with her the other night," Luke informed him.

"Then what's the hold-up? You've been trailing after Lorelai ever since I came to Stars Hollow. Hell, I know you wanted this longer than that."

"That's not what she wants," Luke gritted out. "She wants to forget it ever happened."

He noted Luke's defeated attitude and despite himself, felt a way of empathy because he had been in a similar situation with Rory before they'd gotten together. When he'd first arrived in Stars Hollow he thought it was only a matter of time before Luke and Lorelai became a couple despite both of their protests to the contrary. He secretly believed, like the rest of the town, that they were meant for each other. An unexpectedly spark of anger ignite in him at Lorelai for treating Luke so badly.

"Jess, just drop it," Luke said tiredly. "I'll be fine."

Jess had another whip of anger at Lorelai flick through him but was forestalled from saying anything by a knock on the door. He went and opened it, finding Rory standing there.

"Hey," she smiled at him. "I have a little time to kill before going to Friday night dinner and I thought I'd left you buy me some coffee." She saw Luke standing in the kitchen and her smile dimmed slightly thinking about how miserable her mother had been before she left for New York.

Jess glanced over his shoulder at Luke, who nodded that he should go. Jess nodded in return and left with Rory trailing behind.

"You want the coffee here or do you wanna go out?"

"A to-go cup please. Let's go sit in the gazebo."

Jess set up the coffee and they headed over to the gazebo. Rory sat down but Jess paced the area still thinking about Luke and the way Lorelai had treated him.

"Jess what's wrong?" Rory asked.

Jess stopped and looked at her, reminding himself that he shouldn't be taking his foul mood out on Rory. He sat down next to her, reluctant to bring up the subject of their elders. "I'm just thinking about Luke."

"Luke?" Rory echoed in surprise.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "You know your mother really did a number on him about the other night."

"My mother did a number on him?" Rory repeated in disbelief. She'd held her tongue and not read Luke the riot act for hurting her mother by staying with Nicole. How dare Jess say that?

"Yeah. He's upstairs licking his wounds every since your mother blew him off."

"MY mother blew HIM off?" Rory threw back at him, not bothering to keep the angry tone out of her voice. "My mom broke it off with Alex to be with him and she saw him kissing Nicole."

"What are you talking about?" Jess exclaimed. Luke had said he had broken up with Nicole. Jess hadn't asked for the details of where and when, he just assumed it was on their last date. "He and Nicole broke up the other night."

"They broke up?" Rory asked in a small voice.

"Yeah," Jess confirmed. "You don't think…"

"I think we better go talk to Luke."

* * *

Lorelai carefully hung up her clothes in the closet before turning around and surveying her room. She had finished unpacking in record time. She'd hoped when she left Stars Hollow she would've left her troubles behind, but now, alone in a beautiful hotel room, in a city that had a million things to do, all of which would be better having a companion, she was more depressed than ever. She was glad she was out of Stars Hollow even though she ached to see Luke. She needed to do her wallowing quickly and alone, so by the time she did return, she could handle seeing him on a daily basis, knowing he belonged to someone else.

When they headed to their rooms over an hour ago, Sookie mentioned that they might catch a quick nap before dinner. Lorelai should be doing the same but she couldn't sleep. Not wanting to brave the city at all, Lorelai decided she would hole up and order room service and let Sookie and Jackson have the evening to themselves. They deserved it. Her present mood would just bring everyone down.

She picked up the menu and read through it, deciding what she wanted. When she called down, she ordered enough food for three people along with junk food to aid in the wallowing process.

She sat on the bed, not the least bit tired in spite of the drive. She was at a loss as to what to do next.

There was a light knock on the door. "Lorelai?" Sookie called. "Are you ready?"

Lorelai went to let them in. They were both dressed up for a night out on the town.

"You're not dressed yet," Sookie commented. She was still wearing her stretchy jeans and her Bunny Ranch t-shirt.

"Sook," Lorelai said sincerely. "You and Jackson go out and have a nice romantic dinner. I'm going to stay in tonight."

"No," Sookie whined. "We're here to have fun!"

"I'm not up to having fun tonight," she told her. "I've already ordered in."

Sookie knew Lorelai too well. "You ARE wallowing!" she declared. "I don't understand why you're wallowing if you broke it off with Alex."

"He's not the one I'm wallowing over," Lorelai said, accidentally letting her secret slip out.

"There's another guy?" Sookie asked her eyes wide. "Who is it?"

"Sookie…" Lorelai said faintly, clearly not wanting to discuss it.

"Sookie," Jackson intervened, "let's go. Lorelai would rather be alone right now." He tugged at her arm. "Maybe we can stop by after dinner and go out for some drinks?" he suggested. He was pretty sure she wouldn't want to do that either but he made the offer anyway. Sookie grudgingly nodded in agreement. She didn't want to leave Lorelai alone but she clearly wanted her solitude.

Lorelai nodded gratefully. "Thanks you guys for being so understanding."

She closed the door behind them, leaving it unlocked in anticipation of room service. She roamed around her room again. She drifted over to the night stand where "Walking Tours of New York" sat mocking her. Why she brought this reminder of Luke, she did not know. She picked up the book and wandered aimlessly to the window, looking out at the impressive view.

She hugged the book to her chest as she felt the tears sting her eyes but instead of holding them back, she let them fall. She'd spent the past few years looking for "the one", dating here and there, weeding out the duds trying to find her potential life mate when the perfect man had been there all along. Too late, she realized it and now someone else had him. She only hoped Nicole would know how lucky she was and treat Luke right. She cried harder at her own stupidity for not seeing him sooner and letting him get away.

Lorelai wasn't sure how long she stood staring out the window before she became aware of a soft repetitive tap on the door. Realizing the wallowing was about to start, she called "Come in!" without turning around. She continued to state morosely out the window. The door opened then closed.

"Lorelai." A quiet voice said her name. A voice she knew.

She turned around unaware of her tear-stained face, unaware she was unconsciously clutching the book he'd loaned her close to her heart and stared uncomprehendingly at the last person she expected to see: Luke. It was him and it wasn't. Gone was the flannel, the jeans and the ball cap. In its place he was wearing nice clothes—date clothes—clothes she herself had picked out for him.

"Luke?" she said in whispered, not believing her eyes, tears beginning to fall once again. Her brow furrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here for you," he said simply setting down his duffel bag and stepping closer.

Lorelai's heart began to pound at his words. She hoped she wasn't misinterpreting his meaning. "How did you know where to find me?"

"Rory and Jess sat me down and put in their two cents about us being together when they realized we both got our signals crossed," he explained. "They each saw how unhappy we were. Rory told me where you'd be. She told me I would never have a better opportunity than now."

Her gaze dropped to the floor. "What about Nicole?" she had to ask.

Luke stepped closer, tentative reaching out and brushing her tears away before cupping her face. "You saw her saying good-bye," he stated quietly. "I had forgotten we had dinner plans but it was a good thing that we did. When I started to break it off with her, she guessed it was because of you and I couldn't deny it," he confessed. "She knew my heart wasn't in it." He gently extracted the book from her grasp, shaking his head at the strength of her grip on the book. He tossed it aside on a chair. "Rory said you and Alex broke up too."

"I couldn't stay with him after…" she trailed off and bobbed her head shyly. "All I could think about was you and how wonderful it was, kissing you." She shrugged, slightly shy yet unafraid finally to tell him the truth. "Those kisses meant a lot to me. It woke me up to how it should be with you and me."

Luke cast his eyes heavenward. "Thank god. I thought that night was pretty terrific too."

"I can't believe you came here for me," she said, afraid it was all a dream and she would wake up alone.

"I had to come," he told her as his gaze locked with hers. "I love you."

"I love you," she replied simply. She grinned at him. "I can't believe we made it. We got through it without one of us shying away or being interrupted."

At that moment there was a knock on the door. "Room service."

They looked at each other and laughed. Luke went to the door and opened it. The server maneuvered the cart into the room. Luke's eyes widened as he saw all the food.

"You have enough here to feed an army," he commented. He tipped the server and locked the door after he left.

"I thought I would be wallowing," she admitted. "But we can snack on that later."

He met her gaze, hoping he wasn't mistaking her words. He had to be sure.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked moving close to her again.

She looped her arms around his neck and pressed close to him. "Am I not sending a clear enough signal?"

"Crystal clear," he murmured as he leaned down to kiss her.

It was there again, as soon as their lips met. That spark of electricity was back, the one that made the outside world shrink down to just the two of them. Lorelai's lips parted under the tender insistence of his, marveling at how something as simple as a kiss could convey so much.

Luke leisurely savored her mouth allowing every breath, every pulsing throb as their lips fused together to play out to completion. He wanted them to relish every moment, even the smallest ones. It was that important, especially for their first time.

They moved together, slowly working towards the bed, both their minds operating with a singleness of thought. Lorelai could feel his hands caressing her slowly, rubbing her back, continuing downward, making her crazy with want.

Her own hands had a mind of their own, gently exploring, rubbing her fingers along his neck, teasingly slipping into his hair to kneading the corded muscle along his shoulders and upper arms. She sighed, melting against him. He felt so good.

Clothing was peeling away bit by bit as their lips parted only to return to each other again and again. The sensual shocks were much more overwhelming as they each caressed bare skin. The rest of their clothing was quickly stripped away. Lorelai gasped as Luke pressed his body close to hers. His skin seemed like it was on fire and it was igniting an answering response deep inside her.

Blindly, they eased down onto the bed, positioning themselves both for comfort as well as maximum access to each other. Luke drew back and smiled down at her, noticing the sultry look she was giving him. He watched her eyes widen as his hands brushed over various parts of her body. Hearing her breath quicken as he found some hidden sensitive area was affecting him almost as much as her. He couldn't stop until he satisfied his need to acquaint himself with every single part of her body.

Lorelai was equally curious as well as inventive in her desire to know everything about Luke. Her hands glided over his body encouraged by his groans and sudden hitches in his breathing. She rained light kisses on his skin wherever the spirit moved her.

Neither could hold out any longer against the overwhelming need to cross that final barrier and both focused on the one thing they now so desperately sought. Luke pulled her tightly against him before rolling them into position. He braced himself above her. He stared down at Lorelai, the image of her indelibly committed to memory: her hair fanned out on the pillow, her eyes, full of desire, beseeching him to give her what she most ardently wanted. She shifted slightly, her arms encircling him, drawing him down and home.

There was that one luxuriant moment right as they were joined together for the first time. Luke paused again, gazing at Lorelai, tenderly brushing a few strands away from her face as he caressed her cheek. He could see she too was reveling in the moment, ecstatic that they were finally one.

Their movements were almost imperceptible at first. Any first-time fumbling was non-existent. They knew each other too well. Their actions grew more noticeable as they moved boldly in sync, their rhythm a delightful dance of ebb and flow, a mutual exchange of give and take that met every possible demand.

Then they were soaring upward, soft cries of ecstasy driving each other even higher, twining together both spirit and soul. As they tumbled down from a great height, Lorelai hadn't thought it would ever be this good as she felt herself dissolving in pure bliss. Hearing him groan, the sensitized vibration wrung ever last ounce of pleasure out of both of them until all that was left was the slow flutter back down to earth.

They clung to one another, never wanting those magically drugging sensations to stop, letting them ride out to the very last beat. She felt Luke sigh contentedly and her lips curved. She held him even more closely completely sated for the moment.

Luke lovingly kissed her, completely entranced by the sweetness of her response. He kissed her closed eyelids, the tip of her nose before settling on her mouth once again. His first attempt to move away from her was met with a firm negative by the way she clung to him. Gradually she eased her hold on them and they separated. He moved next to her, their fingers intertwined, maintaining physical contact with her.

They lay facing each other, smiling. Luke caught his breath at the site of her in all her disheveled glory. She was beautiful. He tenderly kissed her fingertips before laying her hand on his chest and covering it with his own. Her eyes were brimming with happiness, glowing with love at his gesture and he knew she could see the same in his eyes.

There was a sudden banging on the door. "Lorelai!" Sookie yelled. "Open up! I know you're still in there!"

Lorelai gave Luke an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry. I'll try to get rid of them," she said getting up and donning a robe.

She made her way to the door but only opened it partially. "Finished with dinner already?"

Sookie took in her attire. "You're not going to spend the entire weekend holed-up in a hotel room," she declared. "You need to come out and have drinks with us."

"Sookie, I'd love to but I'm kinda busy right now," Lorelai said not sure how to tell her about the delightful turn of events.

Out of sight, Luke got out of the bed and donned his pants and a t-shirt.

"I am not taking no for an answer," Sookie insisted. "I know you're upset about this guy but you need to get out and have some fun."

Luke quietly stepped up and slipped his arms around Lorelai. She smiled at him over her shoulder and leaned back to listen to Sookie's rant.

"You are in The City That Never Sleeps," Sookie ranted on, focused on Lorelai, not noticing the newest addition to their group. Jackson did. He quickly assessed the situation and decided they should probably leave them alone.

"Um, Sookie," he tried to interrupt her.

"Not now, Jackson," she brushed him off and turned back to Lorelai. "We came down here to have fun and gosh darn it, we're gonna have fun!"

"Sookie…" Lorelai tried this time.

"No!" she cut her off. "I'm not through yet."

"Sookie," Luke said.

"That goes for you too, Luke," she pointed her finger at him. Then she stopped, her eyes darting back and forth from Lorelai to Luke, noting how he was holding her. "Ohmigod!" she screeched pointing her finger at Luke. "Ohmigod!" The finger now was pointed at Lorelai. "The guy! Luke's the guy?? Luke's the guy!"

Lorelai laughed. "Yes, Luke's the guy," she confirmed.

"This is so great!" Sookie said enthusiastically. She was practically giddy in delight.

"How about we meet you downstairs in the bar," Luke suggested. "We can have drinks and decide what to do tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Jackson agreed.

"Maybe we can do a walking tour," Lorelai ventured snuggling closer to Luke.

"Ooh that sounds fun," Sookie said approvingly.

"We can start in Soho," Luke offered looking at Lorelai. "I've heard that one's pretty good."

They both smiled.

* * *

Jess was circulating the diner, checking on customers before he headed back to the counter where Rory was sitting.

"You haven't heard from her at all?" Jess asked as he leaned on the counter.

"No," Rory admitted. "And I've been dying to find out what happened."

Jess saw Luke's truck pull up and park out front. "Looks like it won't be long before we find out."

Rory turned around just as Luke opened the door and ushered Lorelai in. He had his duffel bag in one hand and the other was riding in the small of her back. Rory looked at them, noticing the calm radiance emanating from her mother and Luke's relaxed demeanor.

"So did you have fun?" Rory inquired hopefully.

Lorelai looked at Luke and Rory couldn't help but notice the warm communication that seemed to flow between them. Luke slid his arm around Lorelai, his hand coming to rest on her hip, not caring about the sudden rise in murmurings by most of the townies there having breakfast.

Lorelai looked back at her daughter and grinned. "We're gonna need a signal."

The End

* * *

The Prompt:

I want you to write nonsmut smut. Basically I want you to do the challenge made by roomsbythesea. It's the hardest dirty ever. I would like it set in season 3.

Here is the challenge:(I just copied and pasted it.)

Any circumstance on any timeline, Luke and Lorelai have sex. But in the writing, there are certain words/phrases that can not be used. All listed below. Have fun and good luck!

Off-limits:

Penis, (or any slang/medical term for the penis) This includes any Proper Nouns, (ie Ernie), all the way down to "member", (shutter).

Vagina (or any slang/medical terms for the entire area, including the clitoris.)

In general, no nether regions should ever be named. (Action described only.)

No words or sounds such as, "Oh" and "Ah" and "Oh god" should ever slip between either lips into the ears of the reader. This includes, "Lukkkkkkkkeeeeee!"

Any overly cheesy sentiments are also banned.

Other words that can not be used are:

Thrust, Grind, Hump, Mount, Wet, Cum (or any other word for both the noun and the verb), or any other word that makes you feel dirty for muttering.

The intent of this is to make it less about writing a sex scene and more about writing for the characters. I guess I'm trying to take the porn out of, well porn. I know it sounds strange but if you're up to the challenge, I'd love to see what you can come up with.


End file.
